Too Late
by Hero Fallen
Summary: Juliet has a nightmare about Shawn getting shot and realizes she was too late to tell him she loved him. Shules. Oneshot.


So, I must admit, this isn't my idea entirely. I have seen it around a few places.

I have seen a lot fo fics where Shawn dies or soemthing, and Juliet realizes she was too late to tell him she loved him and stuff. And I thought this was the perfect way for him to die, and her to realized she loved him, but him not be dead. You know?

I had this idea in my head and had a bunch of paragraphs already mapped out in my head, so I quickly wrote this all out before I lost them. I hope it doesn't seem to rushed. And not too sappy ish.

* * *

Juliet whipped her gun out quickly, holding it tightly in her hands as she always did. With a look of determination, and hoping she looked intimidating, she pointed it at her target. It was hard being a female cop. Sometimes the bad guys didn't take you seriously. Thought her as just a girl pointing a gun at her and not a police cop. But, Juliet didn't let that get to her. It just made it so they were off their guard.

She could feel the presence of Lassiter next to her, his gun trained on the man as well. Lassiter was always standing next to her. She almost liked that fact. It was good to know someone would be there. She often guessed that was why the police force assigned partners. To give the police officer a sense of confidence.

Sure, Lassiter wasn't very entertaining. And he hardly talked to her, unless it was strictly work related. But, he was there. And that's all she really needed. She would talk to him, of course. Babble on about this and that. He would nod his head at the appropriate times and answer her questions, sometimes, so it was enough.

Juliet never admitted it, but she was a competitive person. She liked the feeling of adrenaline pulsing through her veins win she won something. Luckily for her, Lassiter was a competitive person too. She would trick him into competing over something. Usually work related. They were both good at what they did, so they had an equal amount of wins and loses.

She could never imagine Lassiter as a person who could show affection. It just seemed impossible in Juliet's eyes. She knew he had been married once. But, still. She just couldn't picture it. She knew that wasn't like her. To not be able to see that in someone. But, she just couldn't. She had worked so hard to prove herself wrong. To catch Lassiter showing some sort of affection. Not just physical, but anything. Nothing past 'Good work, O'Hara.' Or 'Nice shot.'

O'Hara. That's mainly what he called her. She liked the name Shawn called her better. Jules. Everytime someone called her it, who wasn't Shawn, she would think about him. She liked Shawn a lot. Sure, he was over confident, cocky, and sometimes annoying. Plus, he could be inappropriate with his flirting. No matter what, Juliet would never admit that she liked it when he flirted with her. It made her feel special, some how.

Everytime she saw Shawn, she felt special. And when he would look at her, even just a glance, her pulse would quicken. She knew the whole psychic thing was a joke. Everyone knew it was. But, she would play along, and let him think he had her fooled. Just for his own amusement. So he would be happy. Juliet loved to see Shawn happy. Loved to see his smile.

His smile. That was what Juliet liked best about him. He was always smiling. And his smile was contagious. Juliet would find herself smiling just think about _him_ smiling. Lately, thinking about his smile made her think about his lips. And thinking about his lips made her think about that one night when he _almost_ kissed her. The 'close-talking night' she referred to it as.

Often, Juliet would find herself thinking about that night. She knew it was the right thing to do to stop him from kissing her. Even still, she could still feel his warm breath on her face. She liked the smell of his breath. It didn't smell like mints or anything. It was a natural smell. But, it was a good smell. A smell she liked. Of course, she would never admit that even to herself. His lips so close to her own. Her heart beating faster than…well, think of the fastest thing in the world. She felt like her heart was beating faster than that, on close-talking night.

What if she had kissed him? That thought often crossed her mind. What would have happened? Would they had kissed and ended up at Shawn's place. And then, the next day, would he act like it never happened? Would he act like they were officially together (which they would have been if that had happened). Or would he completely ignore her all together. Juliet worried about that. That was one of the reasons she never let him kiss her. The main reason she kept telling herself was that it was bad to be in work relationships. But, the other was reason was that, to Juliet Shawn seemed like the kind of guy that wouldn't commit. Would get bored easily with the relationship. He seemed like one of those kinds of guys. The guys Juliet didn't want to get mixed up with. They would pursue you, and once they won you, would leave you with snotty tissues and heartbroken. Of course, Juliet would know from experience. But, let's not get into that story.

This guy was armed. He had his gun pointed at Juliet. Every second jerking to point at Lassiter. He was a dangerous person too. Juliet had already sent the word in for back up.

"Put the gun down, and no one has to get hurt." Lassiter said, almost robotically.

"Please?" Juliet added, gently. "We've already have you cornered, there is no where you can run."

"Oh yeah?" The man asked. "How 'bout I shoot the both of ya? Then I can run." He snapped, jerking the gun to point at Juliet.

"You don't want to do that." Lassiter said to him.

Juliet sighed. Every once in a while she would find herself in this position. She knew she should be on her toes, but she was tired. All she wanted to do was curl up on her couch with a cup of coffee and watch a movie or two. It was just one of those days.

The man twitched and tightened his grip on the gun. He was jumpy, which Juliet didn't like. He might accidentally pull the trigger. She made sure to move slowly as she shifted, her muscles screaming from standing in the firing position.

What happened next seemed to happen way to quickly. Juliet heard the door open (they were in this guys apartment). She saw the green shirt of Shawn stepping inside. She heard a crack of what sounded like lightning. She saw Shawn jerk backwards, his green shirt slowly turning to red. She saw as his legs buckled from under him and heard his limp body hit the floor. All these things Juliet heard and saw, but her mind just couldn't comprehend.

Her gun slowly slipped from her hands, landing hard on the floor. There was the shattering of glass, and Juliet guessed that the man made a jump out of the window to get away.

_23 stairs, out the door, round the corner. Pin him in the alleyway below. Cuff him. Bring him in._

That's all she could think. Her mind still didn't comprehend that Shawn had been shot, although she was looking right at him. Finally, something snapped inside her. She heard screaming, and when her throat grew hoarse, realized it was her.

"Shawn!" She half cried half sobbed. She staggered over to him, uncertainly. Dropping down to her knees, she grabbed his shoulders and rolled him over. "Shawn! Wake up!" She screamed at his lifeless body.

She felt some one wrap their arms out her waist. "No! I have to wake him up!" She struggled. She could barely feel the hot tears running down her cheek.

"O'Hara!" Lassiter's stern voice entered her mind.

He pulled her up to a stand and pulled her away. Suddenly, there were more people in the building. But, everything seemed too slow for Juliet. "He's gone. He's gone." Lassiter said to her.

"He can't be! It's not fair!" Juliet sobbed quietly, burying her face in his shoulder. "It's not fair…"

"I know." Lassiter said, awkwardly shifting and wrapping his arms around her comfortingly.

Juliet didn't care anymore. Didn't care that she was crying. Didn't care that Lassiter was finally showing affection. "He was supposed to come into work tomorrow. He was supposed to pretend to be a psychic. He was supposed to flirt with me and annoy you. He was supposed to be alive." She sobbed, babbling about nothing, but only thinking about seeing his lifeless body.

"I know."

That was all Lassiter kept saying. Juliet hated it. She pushed him away. He didn't know. Didn't know anything. "I should have kissed him. I should have kissed and I didn't!" She said to herself. Paramedics were surrounding Shawn, now.

"No heartbeat…no pulse…not breathing…bullet pierce the right lung…gone…dead…" Juliet only faintly picked up these words.

She tried to go to Shawn. To make be wake up. But a paramedic stopped her. "Let me go! I love him! He can't die yet. I love him! I was supposed to tell him! I can't be too late. I'm never late!" She babbled through her salty tears.

"Someone want to take this woman away?" The paramedic said.

Juliet felt like everything was frozen in place, confused by what she had just said. She did love him. She did and now she was too late. She should have kissed him on close-talking night. She should have been with him. Maybe this would all be different.

Maybe Lassiter wouldn't be leading her away, trying his best to comfort her. Maybe Juliet wouldn't be feeling like her head was about to explode. That her heart was about to give away. Maybe she wouldn't be hearing the paramedics giving up. Maybe she wouldn't be calling out Shawn's name in agony.

"Jules!" Everything was a blur, but Juliet could hear Shawn's voice. "Jules!" Everything grew dark. Did her heart really stop with so much pain? Was she joining Shawn in Heaven?

"**Jules! Wake up!"**

"What?" Juliet mumbled, quickly picking her head up from the desk. It took her a moment to register what had happened.

"Are you okay?"

Juliet turned and looked to her left. Shawn was leaning against the desk, a genuine look of concern and curiosity on his face as he starred down at her. "A dream? It was just a dream?" She asked, relief flooding over her.

"…yeah…?" Shawn said. "You must have fallen asleep at your desk. When I came over here, you kept saying my name. I must admit, I didn't want to wake you," That goofy grin played upon his face, "But, you looked really upset."

Juliet slowly looked around the police station. Everybody was doing their normal thing. She glanced at the clock and saw it was around one in the afternoon. She had been asleep for almost an hour now. Standing up, Juliet looked over at Shawn. He was now looking at her with a worried expression on his face.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, studying her face. "Were you…were you _crying?_"

"You're alive." She said, stepping forward and wrapped her arms around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder. She could smell his cologne.

"Um, yeah." He answered, not so hesitantly wrapping his arms around her waist, hugging her back.

"You wouldn't wake up. They kept saying you were dead. I should have…" But she trailed off.

"It was just a dream, okay?" Shawn said to her. "I'm alive, see?" He said to her, quietly, although a little hesitantly, as if confused.

"I was too late." Juliet continued to babble, even thought she knew she should just walk away. But, she couldn't. Her dream had just seemed too real.

"Too late for what?" He asked her. She could feel his hand comfortingly rubbing her back in a circular motion.

"Too late to tell you I loved you."

* * *

I did another version where I continued it from there, but decided to cut it to there. I'll let you decide how Shawn reacts and what happens next. 


End file.
